The spectrum of ADHD
Like Autism, ADHD traits fall on a spectrum. There are a range of traits that vary from one person to the next.
Not everyone with ADHD has every trait, and way an ADHD traits affects you might be different from how it affects someone else with ADHD.
Today, let’s look at some of the more common ADHD traits you might have. And if you want to dig deeper into any of them, pick up a copy of my free ADHD Handbook.
ADHD Subtypes
Today, ADHD is described as having three subtypes:
- Inattentive. Easily distracted, difficulty concentrating or staying organized.
- Hyperactive/Impulsive. Exactly what it says on the label!
- Combined. Both inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive.
Historically, the Hyperactive/Impulsive and Combined subtypes were called ADHD, while the Inattentive subtype was called ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).
Because the Inattentive subtype likes the more physically obvious hyperactivity, people in this subtype are often underdiagnosed, or don’t get diagnosed into later in life.
You’ll sometimes here that men are more likely to be in the Hyperactive/Impulsive or Combined subtypes, while women are more likely to be in the Inattentive subtype. However, I’ve heard from lots men who just recently received an Inattentive subtype diagnosis. My hunch is that this subtype is just wildly underdiagnosed in all genders.
In my experience, the edges between the subtypes are also fuzzy. A person can shift from one subtype to another over time.
Hyperfocus or a hive a bees
Attention regulation is one of the most commonly shared traits for people with ADHD.
Often, you’ll have a dozen or so ideas bouncing around in your head at the same time. Your attention shifts rapidly from one to the next and back again. It’s sometimes described as having “a head full of bees.”
Because your attention shifts rapidly from one topic to the next, you never get really focus deeply on any of them. This can make it particularly hard to start doing anything, because you simply cannot pick one thing to focus on.
Other times, however, your brain will laser focus on just one thing to the detriment of everything else around you.
This is often called hyperfocus, and it’s like a more intense version of flow or being in the zone.
When you’re in hyperfocus, you can often be absurdly productive. But you’ll also miss meetings and ignore everything around you, including your own biological needs like eating, sleep, or using the bathroom.
And if you’re hyperfocused on something you find interesting, you may put all of your time and attention into that instead of other, more important or time-sensitive tasks that you need to get done.
Limited working memory
If your ADHD brain were a computer, it would have a huge hard drive and a really small amount of RAM.
Our heads are often filled with tons of information about stuff we find (or used to find) interesting: random events from one we were kids, esoteric knowledge about current or past obsessions, professional knowledge.
Neurotypical folks will often say things like…
How do you even remember that?
But despite having a huge mental hard drive, we have very little RAM.
ADHD is a form of executive dysfunction, and one of the ways it affects us is our working memory. We have very little of it, and can only keep one or two things in our head at a time.
It’s why you can’t remember people’s names even if they tell you a dozen times. It’s why if you’re in the middle of one task and someone mentions something else that needs doing, you forget one (or both) of them. It’s why you go to the store to buy something and come home with everything but that thing.
Your brain will often just garbage collect things without writing them to permanent storage. And if you have too much information thrown at you at once, your brain may pinwheel on you.
When this happens, you may feel overwhelmed or frozen, and you’re unlikely to retain any information.
Impulse control
Some folks with ADHD struggle with impulse control.
One part of your brain will tell you do something, but the part of your brain that says, “Hey, wait a minute!” is too slow to react. As a result, you’ll often do things without thinking them through.
This can be a big professional asset (as we’ll discuss in a future section)! But it can also become a professional liability, annoy some people in social situations (more on that later, too), and cause you to get injured.
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (or RSD) is a very commonly described trait among folks with both ADHD and Autism, though it’s not officially listed in the ADHD diagnostic manual.
RSD makes you more likely to experience strong emotional pain when you feel rejected or experience failure. Often, these feelings are outsized relative to the rejection or failure.
If you’re the kind of person who says “sorry” too much, wears your heart on your sleeve, or was (or are) really emo, you might have this trait.
RSD is a byproduct of having difficulty regulating your emotions (because again, we don’t have enough dopamine).
Time Blindness
Time blindness is the inability to accurately perceive the passing of time.
While everyone experiences this to some degree (the whole “time flies when you’re having fun” adage), it’s an ever-present reality for many people with ADHD.
Where this often affects developers with ADHD is in our ability to estimate how long tasks will take (even if we’ve done those task before).
It makes you more likely to miss meetings, and to over-commit to projects and requests. You may also forget to take food out of the oven or switch your laundry.
It means that boring tasks feel like they’re taking foreeeevvvveeerrrr, but you can spend 12 hours working on something you love and feel like barely any time has passed at all.
Hyperactivity
The H in ADHD! This can manifest in a variety of ways, both physical and mental.
You might talk really fast (because your brain is moving so fast, too), fidget or rock in your chair, or have difficulty sitting for long periods of time.
You might also feel like your mind is racing, or interrupt people when they’re talking.
Easily distracted
A lot of folks with ADHD find visual or auditory stimulii extremely distracting.
Loud noises or movement (including in your peripheral vision) can easily break whatever you were focused on. As a result, shared work environments and open offices can be really distracting for someone with ADHD.
Similarly, it can be hard to make eye contact and listen to what a person is saying at the same time.
Some folks with ADHD find that absolute silence is also too distracting, and need some level of consistent “white noise” in the background: music without lyrics, the din of a public space like a coffee shop, or a show or movie they’ve seen a dozen times playing the background.
Rejection of authority
This is another trait that’s not in the official ADHD diagnostic manual, but seems to be pretty common among folks with ADHD.
For whatever reason, many of us have a natural disdain for authority-for-the-sake-of-authority. For people with this trait, titles or positions of power don’t evoke a sense of deference or respect. They’re generally meaningless.
You may also be more likely to reject social norms, which often seem silly or nonsensical, and are less likely to give in to peer-pressure.
When asked to do something, you need to know why. “Just because” isn’t a good enough reason to do anything.
Being blunt
Much like Autism, people with ADHD can have a tendency to say what they mean in very direct and honest terms without much nuance or sugarcoating.
I suspect this is the result of a combination of thinking social norms are silly and a lack of impulse control.
Neurotypical folks often find blunt direct honesty too jarring or intense, so in some social situations, this can create some challenges. But it also means you’re the type or person who will always give an honest answer to someone, which is a great reputation to have.